Breaking the monopoly of knowledge: research methods, participation and development

Abstract

What is the objective of our research? Dr. Budd Hall delves deeply into this question while critiquing the dominant, top-down approach to conducting research in adult education. This essay explores how knowledge obtained through survey research can be inaccurate, alienating, and inadequate for guiding social action. Drawing from the works of radical scholars such as Freire, Glaser and Strauss, Oliveiras, and others, along with his own reflections, Hall discusses what an alternative participatory research approach can look like and what its fundamental principles would be. These lessons are guided by the principle of liberation to realize the full human creative potential, to continually inquire on this front, and to break away from dominant frameworks.